


The Way My Love Talks Quietly

by stuffy_j



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Fluff, M/M, Pining, SEP era, awkward middle school party games because why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 21:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13108965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuffy_j/pseuds/stuffy_j
Summary: Jack’s thigh was pressed up against Gabriel’s, hot and solid and amazing, and Gabriel couldn't think of a single thing that could make this moment better.Well. Okay, he could think of a few, but considering those things would only happen if he told Jack that he wouldn't mind being something more than friends, he was pretty happy with how things were going right now.





	The Way My Love Talks Quietly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [breezybird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/breezybird/gifts).



> I wrote this as part of the 2017 Open R76 Secret Santa, and I'm so glad I was able to participate this year! I had an absolute blast, and thank you so much to the lovely, wonderful, and forever talented [foldingcranes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foldingcranes/pseuds/foldingcranes) for hosting and modding this amazing event! Her patience and kindness knows no bounds (and also her writing is FANTASTIC everyone go read it NOW).
> 
> To my lovely recipient, I hope you enjoy this fic and have a warm and wonderful holiday! _Blows you a kiss!_
> 
> And to anyone else reading this, I would love to know what you think! Thank you so much again for reading!

“Well this is...horrible,” Gabriel said, mouth twisting in distaste as he walked into the SEP’s rec room for their mandatory holiday party.

It looked like someone had gone to the nearest CVS and bought all the sad, slightly deformed remaining holiday decorations to futilely cheer up the bare concrete walls and drab brown furniture that the soldiers normally played cards on. Tinsel had been strung up along the walls but was quickly shedding bright plastic bits to the floor. A few wrinkled stockings were being held up by duct tape underneath, and the most bedraggled looking fake tree sat in a corner, small and squat with a tarnished star on top. 

“Shit,” Jack said, popping up behind him, and Gabriel only startled a _little_ bit.

“Goddammit Jack, how many times do you have to do that before you give me a heart attack?” Gabriel asked, holding a hand to his chest and feeling his heart suddenly beating wildly.

Jack clapped him on the shoulder and grinned, moving past Gabriel and further into the rec room. A few other recruits were standing over by a long folding table that had been set up at one end of the room, and Velazquez looked over at the two of them as they entered.

“Looks like shit, huh?” she said cheerfully, her dark hair swept back from her face. “At least the brass provided us with enough booze to down a herd of rhinos, probably as a ‘we’re sorry you can’t go home to your families during the holidays’ gesture.” She stepped back from the table, and sure enough, there was enough hard alcohol, wine, and beer to incapacitate an army stacked both on top and under it. There was also a small platter of chips with guacamole and salsa hidden amongst the bottles. Gabriel shuddered--the guacamole looked too brown to be edible. He was just going to stick to alcohol.

Jack snorted. “Well, we shouldn’t let Command’s gesture of goodwill go to waste! Let’s get some drinks going!” 

A cheer went up from the group, and Jack popped open a bottle of cheap champagne.

\---

It was midnight, and they were all hammered. Gabriel couldn’t remember the last time he had been this drunk; there hadn’t been much opportunity back in the navy (well, there had been, but he’d been so focused on getting into the Marines eventually that he hadn’t allowed himself to do anything that could even remotely get him in trouble), and it took much more alcohol than the nearest dive bar kept stocked to get him drunk these days, thanks to the goddamn SEP enhancements. But apparently a handle’s worth of tequila shots could get him there, and he smiled as he took another swig, feeling the burn smooth down his throat. 

Jack was sitting next to him on the couch, squeezed up against him because Highland was on the other side, too many large men on a regular-sized couch. But Jack’s thigh was pressed up against Gabriel’s, hot and solid and _amazing_ , and Gabriel couldn't think of a single thing that could make this moment better. 

Well. Okay, he could think of a few, but considering those things would only happen if he told Jack that he wouldn't mind being something more than friends, he was pretty happy with how things were going right now. 

“Hey!” someone shouted above the dull roar of the room. Gabriel thought it was Simmons. “Hey! Let's play spin the bottle!”

Several people laughed, but more cheered, including Jack, who raised the beer bottle he was drinking out of in a gesture of support. Gabriel felt his stomach plummet. 

It took several minutes, but finally the drunken soldiers shuffled themselves into an approximation of a circle, an empty vodka bottle in the center, ready to be spun. “I'll go first!” Pariello offered, an eager grin splitting his dark face as he leaned in to take hold of the bottle. Giving a deft flick of his wrist, he spun the bottle rapidly, and they all began cheering as it circled around and around before landing on Chiang, who flushed slightly but laughed, leaning over to be kissed lightly before taking hold of the bottle themselves and spinning it. 

This went on for a few rounds and Gabriel couldn't take his eyes from the bottle, watching the way it spun around and around, a hypnotic circle punctuated only by hoots of laughter and triumphant cries, choruses of sly jibes as kisses went a little too long, a little too deep for such a juvenile game. 

And then the bottle stopped on Jack, and Gabriel felt his heart leap up into his throat and threaten to strangle him. He looked up into the laughing face of Velazquez, her lips dark red and inviting as she looked at Jack, who was looking back at her with a smile of his own, watching her as she crossed the circle towards him. Gabriel watched as she sank down into Jack’s lap, her hands cradling his face ( _Possessively_ , his traitorous mind whispered, _Like she's comfortable doing this_ ), kissing him long and slow and deep, and Gabriel could see the hint of pink tongue slipped into Jack’s mouth, could hear nothing but a roaring in his ears as he watched them kiss and kiss and kiss. He knew, behind the roaring, that their fellow soldiers were whistling and laughing, egging them on, and he knew he should join them. His stomach rolled. 

Gabriel got up and fled the room. He couldn't watch as Jack kissed someone else next, couldn't watch as others laid claim to what he was too chickenshit to ask Jack for himself. 

He wasn't entirely aware of where his feet were taking him, but as soon he was pushing against the rooftop door and taking a deep breath of the freezing night air. It rushed through his lungs, taking the tipsy dizziness with it and leaving him clear-headed and cognizant. Fuck. Sober once more. That was another issue he had with the SEP: they flushed chemicals and toxins from their systems incredibly quickly. If Gabriel wanted to stay tipsy, he would need to keep drinking.

Looking up into the night sky, Gabriel breathed and counted the stars, trying to forget what he had just seen inside. It--he wasn’t mad. Or at least, he wasn’t mad at Jack. How could he know, when Gabriel had never said anything? Sure, he had tried to give Jack some subtle hints, flirted with him a few times, but Jack had never really reciprocated or given any indication that he felt the same way about Gabriel. So Gabriel had just...dropped it, and focused on their friendship, their training, the way they meshed seamlessly as a team out in the field. How many people could he say he had this level of rapport with? He trusted Jack implicitly, knew that Jack trusted him back.

He just didn’t know how much more Gabriel wanted.

Closing his eyes, Gabriel pressed a hand to his chest, feeling an invisible ache settle deep within his chest. He wasn’t blind, and he knew everyone else back in that rec room could see the same qualities in Jack, the way he could bring people together with so much ease, the way his smile lit up a room. Gabriel had joked that Jack was going to be the goddamn posterboy of the SEP if he wasn’t careful. Of course there was going to be someone else out there who felt the same way he did about Jack, but who wasn’t afraid to make their feelings known.

The door creaked open behind him, and Gabriel whipped around, wondering who the hell had followed him outside.

Jack stood behind him, concern glittering in his eyes.

“Gabe?” Jack asked, rubbing his hands together in the cold. Gabriel could see the puffs of breath from his lips as he spoke. “You okay?”

Gabriel sighed and started to turn back around. “Yeah--” he started to say, before swallowing the rest of his platitude and facing Jack once more. “Actually, no,” he said, and Jack’s eyes widened for just a moment. “I had to leave because...because I’m selfish. I couldn’t watch you kiss anyone else, Jack, not when I know that will never be me, because I’m not what you want.” Gabriel realized he was babbling, but he suddenly couldn’t stop the words as they poured from his mouth, months of emotions he thought he had locked away spilling out to the ground at Jack’s feet. “And I’m not mad--well, I’m mad at myself, because I lost my chance before I really even had it, and also because I’ve been too scared of messing up what we _do_ have together, because I love being friends with you, and I’d love to have more, but I don’t want to push you for something you don’t want. And it’s fine that you don’t feel the same way about me, I just need a little bit of space to get my head screwed back on properly. You should rejoin the party, go celebrate the holid--”

Jack cut him off with a kiss, just a sweet, gentle press of mouths together, both of their lips chapped from the cold air and winter breeze. After a few moments, Jack pulled back and Gabriel opened eyes, not realizing he had closed them. Jack had a small smirk on his face, and Gabriel’s stomach swooped nervously.

“What?” he asked, and Jack just looked up. Following his gaze, Gabriel saw the small sprig of obviously plastic mistletoe Jack was holding above their heads.

“I snagged this from the decorations, those assholes inside don’t need any more excuses to make out with each other,” Jack said, chuckling slightly. He lowered the mistletoe and tucked it into his pocket. “And I don’t think I need an excuse to kiss you, either. Right?” he asked, placing a cold hand on the side of Gabriel’s equally cold face.

“No, you don’t,” Gabriel said, smiling as he leaned in for another kiss, this one deeper, mouths moving slickly together as they learned each other. 

The void that had been in his chest blossomed instead, a golden glow settling itself between Gabriel’s ribs. Pulling back only slightly, Gabriel breathed warmly across Jack’s face, watching the way his eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. “Let’s take on the world, Jack,” he whispered.

“Together,” Jack said.

“Wouldn’t want it any other way,” Gabriel said. “Let’s go inside, it’s fucking freezing out here.”

Jack laughed. “You’re the one who came out here to brood!”

“You followed me,” Gabriel smiled.

“Of course,” Jack said, matter-of-fact. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”


End file.
